Early History of Penneshaw

Penneshaw has probably been best known for Frenchman's Rock; the rock inscribed by members of Nicolas Baudin's crew in 1803 when they gathered water at the site. Baudin had been told of the availability of meat and water, by Matthew Flinders when they met in Encounter Bay the year before. That chance meeting was the start of 200 years of fascinating history; of information passed on which in turn lead to other events

On his way back to Europe, Baudin met Isaac Pendleton, an American sealer, near Albany in Western Australia. He passed on the information about meat water and seals and probably the information about Port Dasche, as he named it. This later became American River when Pendleton set up a camp there a few months later, building a boatind taking many seal skins for the China Trade.

Flinders men too no doubt told tales of this bountiful island, on the waterfront in Port Jackson. This penal colony there had been in existence for about 15 years by then and later Tasmania also became a convict settlement; both breeding grounds for men wanting to escape officialdom. As the years passed the sealing grounds from WA to Bass Strait became the home of many men and their Aboriginal women as they moved from ground to ground. Some settled permanently on Kangaroo Island from about 1824 onward. Such names as Nat Thomas, Fireball Bates and William Walker and their Aboriginal partners, Betty, and Sally Walker loom large in this period of Penneshaw history. Indeed they still featured in the history after official settlement in 1836. These were the folk who helped the new arrivals settle in and told them how to survive in a primitive and foreign land. The settlers had been lured to Kangaroo Island by the tales of whaling and sealing, salt gathering and kangaroo skins, which all found a ready market. Unfortunately things didn't work out well and most moved to the mainland. However the hardiest stayed on to continue to build the island economy and a new life for themselves

NEW TOWN / OLD TOWN - the development of Penneshaw township.